Scott Conroy | Is a Franken-Bachmann Showdown on the Horizon?

Though widely expected to win comfortably in her state’s most conservative district, Bachmann instead eked out a less-than-5,000-vote victory over Democratic businessman Jim Graves, who had made it close in part by raising doubts about his opponent’s commitment to her district.

But despite that presidential fade-out and close call back home, Bachmann is again being mentioned as a candidate for higher office — this time as a potential challenger to first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken in 2014.

Bachmann has not signaled publicly her interest in such a race, but her advisers do not deny that she might consider it down the road.

"Congresswoman Bachmann is focusing her time and energy on serving her constituents and holding listening sessions across Minnesota’s Sixth District, not on 2014,” Bachmann Communications Director Dan Kotman said in a statement to RCP.

Franken won his Senate seat in 2008 after prevailing in a recount, besting GOP incumbent Norm Coleman by 312 votes. The Democrat has spent the last four years seeking to shed his image as a “Saturday Night Live” jokester and liberal provocateur by keeping a relatively low profile on the national stage.